horses and bayo…ploughs

So says BO to Mittens during the final debate. Yes, this is true. And BO’s point is spot on as a critique of what Mittens said about the Navy.

But would BO say the same thing about horses and ploughs? We have fewer farmers (and probably horses) than we did 100 years ago. That, too, is a good thing. We have become more productive through mechanization. That productivity increase has enabled us to spend more time thinking and inventing. We have iPads now, in large part, because we don’t all have to be farmers.

Would BO say the same thing about manufacturing? We know the answer to this question: No. BO and Mittens fall over themselves talking about how we need to bring manufacturing jobs back. But we don’t. We shouldn’t. We should strive to eliminate them in favor of increased productivity (whether it be through mechanization, software, whatever). The more we can drive human labor into the thing which only humans can do – be creative – the better we will all be. Let machines and software do anything and everything they can. We don’t need or want humans building iPads or cleaning bathrooms. Let the machines do it. Let the humans think and invent. The jobs pay better and they’re more fun.